Evan Narcisse

You put in a disc or launch a game from the hard drive. The title
screen glows in front of you, beckoning. Time to press the start button, like
you've done thousands of times before. Not anymore, though. Start's gone, shown
the door by both the PS4 and Xbox One.

Next-gen console hardware always brings changes. Some of them, like
upgraded user interfaces or new peripherals, are expected. But it's a bit of a
surprise that the button in the center-right of both the Xbox One and PS4
controllers doesn't have the word "start" underneath it anymore.

Start goes back to the arcade era, back to when your money was
already accepted and all you needed to do was press a button to begin a grand
adventure. And adventure is key here because the word "start" can be used as a
verb. Video games are all about verbs: run, jump, shoot, dodge. Pushing start
inserted you into a new skin and a new world. There's alchemy in "start."

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But, now, the title screen for Xbox One exclusive Killer Instinct says 'Press Menu.' Menu?
Accurate though it may be, that's not getting anybody hyped.

And on PS4's
DualShock 4 controller, "start" has been replaced by 'Options'.

"Press Any Button"
is becoming more and more common now, too.

The change in terminology also reflects on how things have shifted
with regard to the making and selling of video games. You're not the one
starting things anymore. They've already been started for you and they run in
the background without you. You're not a hero; you're a browser, an end user. Both
Options and Menu evoke a list of tasks. The same games lie behind each word
but without "start," they seem less exciting.

R.I.P. Start button.

Update: Yes, you're right. Swimming in the land of PS4s and Xbox Ones these last two weeks, we almost forgot about the Nintendo Wii U, which does not forgo the "Start" button for some new invention. Our bad.